the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction: 0c☨♁ber

Welcome to the thirty-eighth issue of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This issue would not be possible without the advent of artificial intelligence algorithms.

I'd like to take this moment to thank the following contributors and collaborators without whose friendly efforts this enterprise would never have seen fruition: My mentor in the generation and refinement of digital art, Charles Carter. Thanks for the help upscaling my source image I made in DALL*E which ended up as the official story image for Lewis Shiner's story here Odd Man Out, and for Inpainting the ERROR message inside the eyes for the Keith Graham story which wraps up the issue. And for all your assistance and inspiration in my last two years of learning the various ins and outs of the text to image sensation that is sweeping the nation and Earth. We're chasing after this revolution for all its worth and let me tell you it's a challenging and rewarding hobby to have.

Thank you to Lewis Shiner for giving me kind permission to access his Fiction Liberation Front site to borrow from this time around. Yes, I was going to put together another traditional Halloween-themed October issue, when all of a sudden I zagged over to the sharp, shock of a short Odd Man Out. This story set the tone and pacing for what was to follow.

Thank you John Shirley for remaining an OG Freezine Veteran, I would say this latest tale must be at least your twelfth with the Freezine, but I might have lost count somewhere along the line, and I'm grateful you sent it to me because the story Please Accept This really threw me for a loop with its uplifting and hopeful redemption of a particular brutality too painful for anyone to have to deal with. Incidentally, the five photographs embedded within the text and which reflect the goings on of the story, were taken by the author himself.

A most sincere and hearty shout out of gratitude goes out to Jason V. Brock for submitting his excellent short story The Ancestors. This one really has the feel of an older class of science fiction terror tale, the sort Groff Conklin used to be the editor of in anthologies published by Pocket Books, except with an undercurrent of contemporary tension that fits into today's headlines. The Ancestors is an effectively chilling tale reflecting the uncertainty of our rapidly developing era, and the Freezine is proud to have it available in the archives.

And finally, a great Thank You to Keith P. Graham, for being another OG Veteran here, with perhaps as many tales under our starry belt as John Shirley. Your story the Girl with the Error Message Eyes, despite being written back in 2007 I think, before all of this wireless Blu tooth tech took over world wide, manages to resonate perhaps even more powerfully today, and I thought it made the perfect thoughtful closer to an October issue that ended up hewing closer to the spirit of what the Freezine set out to be in the first place.

Stay tuned here in the same place and on the same Bat channel next month, when the Freezine brings to life an old fashioned serialized novella from the public domain, as well as any appropriate stories that manage to find their way into our ever expanding fold. Thanks for keeping it real and Happy Halloween to all, and to all a good night.

+ Click on the titles or images below to read the stories ~

The Tale of Time

by Shaun Lawton